Hunter Ferris
LIBERTY, Ind. – One change made a difference in Thursday’s Lincoln and Union County boys basketball game.
“Our defensive intensity got us going,” Klein said. “We switched from a man to a half-court trap.”
The end result for Lincoln was a 66-56 Tri-Eastern Conference win over Union County.
The Golden Eagles trailed 13-2 late in the opening period before they rallied to cut the deficit to 19-14 at the end of the frame. The trap helped Lincoln’s Hunter Ferris.
“That really seemed to get Hunter going,” Klein said.
Ferris scored 26 of his game-high 30 points in the first half as Lincoln grabbed a 41-32 advantage by the intermission.
“We got great energy from our guys off the bench,” Klein said. “(Austin) Lanich, (James) Pugh and (Josh) Gardner really gave us a big energy lift on defense.”
On the other bench, it was a different story.
“I felt like we looked tired,” Union County coach Mark Detweiler said. “We’ve been battling (illness) all week. We had no energy.”
“Our defense has created a lot for us and tonight it didn’t,” Detweiler continued. “We got sloppy with the ball in the second quarter and our transition defense was awful.”
Garrett Pumphrey had 12 points and 14 rebounds for Lincoln, while Chase Southerland tossed in 11.
“I’m super proud of our kids for us to come in here and get a road win,” Klein said. “It was big for us.”
Logan Sanford and Derek Dearth led the Patriots with 13 points each. Cameron Donovan added 10 points. Dearth grabbed 10 rebounds.
Union County won the JV contest 53-28 with Ryan Hensley leading the way with 14 points. Leighton Schulte added 12 points and Trevor Reiboldt finished with 11.
For Lincoln, Cameron Gwin tossed in 12 points.
Both teams return to action on Tuesday as Lincoln (12-4, 3-1) entertains Hagerstown in a TEC contest, while Union County (8-10, 2-3) visits Morristown.
Box Score
LINCOLN (12-4, 3-1) – Bryant Hilbert 2 0-0 4, Caleb Craig 0 1-2 1, Chase Southerland 5 0-0 11, Hunter Ferris 10 7-7 30, Garrett Pumphrey 4 4-4 12, Austin Lanich 1 0-0 2, Josh Gardner 3 0-0 6, James Pugh 0 0-0 0, Garron Laymon 0 0-0 0. Team – 25 12-13 66.
UNION COUNTY (8-10, 2-3) – Cameron Sanford 1 2-2 4, Cameron Donovan 4 2-2 10, Mason Miller 2 0-0 4, Logan Sanford 5 2-2 13, Derek Dearth 6 1-2 13, Preston Scott 2 0-0 6, Mook Shepler 3 0-0 6, Luke Haas 0 0-0 0. Team – 23 7-8 56.
Lincoln 14 41 53 66
Union Co. 19 32 46 56
3-pointers – Lincoln 4 (Ferris 3, Southerland), Union County 3 (Scott 2, L. Sanford). Rebounds – Lincoln 25, (Pumphrey 14), Union County 27 (Dearth 10). Turnovers – Lincoln 19, Union County 15. Fouls – Lincoln 11, Union County 13. Fouled out – None. JV score – Union County 53, Lincoln 28.